“My books about Goa and not only …”

Books

GOA. Confession of the Psychedelic Oyster.

2011, India, Goa, Arambol

This book is for those who engulfed themselves in reading ‘Shantaram’, those who had a chance to visit Goa, and also for all those who are planning to immerse in noisy, bright and unmatched vibes of the universal capital of downshifters, two-week tourists, yogis, Israeli demobs, freaks, smokers and dancers of all types. This book is about a carefree and happy façade of the paradise resort and its insides; about the illusory freedom provided by psychedelics and the true imprisonment of the Indian jail; about the immutability of karmic law of cause-and-effect relation and surrealism of Indian justice; ups and downs of fortune of the author, his naivety, illusions, growing up and the inner transformation. Reading this book, empathizing with the author and recognizing many of its characters, I couldn’t put it down. The narrative doesn’t let you go as everything described, no matter how tragic, incredible and phantasmagoric it is at times, was experienced and told from the first-person perspective.

Alexander Nariniani, a reader, publisher and translator.

For 6 years I’ve been under investigation for a criminal case, but I consider myself innocent of the charges against me. I was locked up for one and a half years in an Indian prison and have been released on bail, which means I can’t leave India for a few years. I wrote this book in order to make a living. I’d like to state that the main character, the prototype of whom I personally am, is a collective character. All the other characters are the product of my imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead is entirely coincidental.

An ordinary Russian guy named Vasiliy lives in the north of the Indian state of Goa. He has a beautiful wife, a smart daughter, and his own restaurant on the shore, where you can have a taste of hash brownie and wash it down with a real kvass – an old Russian beverage – for just 100 rupees. Vasya and his friends consider themselves ‘Che Guevaras’ for psychedelic effects, and help their fellow citizens – true downshifters and ‘two-week trippers’ – make a quantum leap in their consciousness. But Vasya’s prolonged journey through lovely India, where desires tend to materialize themselves and time is ‘as thick as a mango smoothie’, was gradually turning into a bad trip.

It’s a narrative about how ‘heaven without hell can unnoticeably turn into hell’, which is fascinating not only to a wide gallery of characters that took a direct part in the described events, but also to a new generation of psychedelic Jedis willing to learn from their predecessors’ mistakes.